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<title>luciferian by autumnstwilight (sewohayami)</title>
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<h1><a href="https://archiveofourown.org/works/29914491">luciferian</a> by <a class='authorlink' href='https://archiveofourown.org/users/sewohayami/pseuds/autumnstwilight'>autumnstwilight (sewohayami)</a></h1>

<table class="full">

<tr><td><b>Category:</b></td><td>Final Fantasy XV</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Genre:</b></td><td>Alternate Universe - Canon Divergence, Bad Ending, Gen</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Language:</b></td><td>English</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Status:</b></td><td>Completed</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Published:</b></td><td>2021-03-08</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Updated:</b></td><td>2021-03-08</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Packaged:</b></td><td>2021-05-15 20:15:19</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Rating:</b></td><td>Teen And Up Audiences</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Warnings:</b></td><td>Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Chapters:</b></td><td>1</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Words:</b></td><td>763</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Publisher:</b></td><td>archiveofourown.org</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Story URL:</b></td><td>https://archiveofourown.org/works/29914491</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Author URL:</b></td><td>https://archiveofourown.org/users/sewohayami/pseuds/autumnstwilight</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Summary:</b></td><td><div class="userstuff">
              <p>“And they called me the Usurper,” Ardyn says, when they arrive. He seems as darkly amused as ever, but the slight hitch in his breathing can’t evade Ignis’s senses, a note of trepidation. “It’s one thing to take the throne from a mortal king. I’m afraid what you boys have brought here is much worse.”</p>
            </div></td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Relationships:</b></td><td>Noctis Lucis Caelum &amp; Ignis Scientia</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Comments:</b></td><td>14</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Kudos:</b></td><td>40</td></tr>

</table>

<a name="section0001"><h2>luciferian</h2></a>
<div class="story"><div class="userstuff module">
    
    <p>
  <span>I</span>
</p><p>
  <span>Noct comes back wrong, and so bright that even Ignis can see him. The others bow before him, a contortion of instinct, for none can raise their faces to the Light.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>He stands taller now. His eyes, as far as Ignis can tell, glow red at every moment. The placid lakes and the calm seas once found in his gaze have evaporated, and only the fire remains. His wings, if you can call them that, are razor-shards of magic, blades melted and misformed like volcanic glass.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>“I found a way,” he explains, almost casual but for the fact his voice is the rasp of crystal. “You know what was behind Bahamut’s mask? Under all of it, it was me all along.”</span>
</p><p>
  <span>He flexes his hand, as if calling up the memory of a weapon. “It was meant to be like this,” he says, and almost sounds like he’s convinced himself of it.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>He doesn’t eat that night. Nor does he sleep. He stands perched on the edge of the haven like a fallen star, eyes fixed on the torn skyline of Insomnia in the distance. For those who remain in the city, he must appear as a comet on the horizon, come to herald the end.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>II</span>
</p><p>
  <span>“And they called </span>
  <em>
    <span>me</span>
  </em>
  <span> the Usurper,” Ardyn says, when they arrive. He seems as darkly amused as ever, but the slight hitch in his breathing can’t evade Ignis’s senses, a note of trepidation. “It’s one thing to take the throne from a mortal king. I’m afraid what you boys have brought here is much worse.”</span>
</p><p>
  <span>The battle of Kings is anticlimactic, in the end. There’s the ringing of falling blades, a guillotine hitting stone again and again. Ardyn scatters like dry leaves under the assault of light, and when he reforms, a prison of blades surrounds him, sinks through him.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>“Finish it,” he spits, through a mouthful of Scourge.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>“But I haven’t pronounced your sentence,” comes the reply, cold as the ring of blades on stone. Noct’s voice lilts, and he pauses as if tilting his head. “For the murder of the Oracle and so many others…”</span>
</p><p>
  <span>There is a moment as Ardyn’s body rattles, breath ragged with pain.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>“Back to Angelgard, I think.”</span>
</p><p>
  <span>Noct snaps his fingers, and in the moment before Ardyn vanishes, he lets out the beginnings of a broken sob. The hall rings with silence.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>Noct reclaims his throne without ceremony, merely the quietest exhalation as he sits. They wait, but he gives no order. The change comes gradually, clouds above Insomnia parting until a great disc of light is revealed. Ignis stands in awe, a ripple runs through the other two. Jubilation. The sun; returned after so many years. All of their trials have not been for naught.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>There is a shimmer, a shift in the air, and the disc changes ever so slightly. It takes Ignis a moment to recall the blue shimmer of the Wall and connect it to the hazy refraction he sees now. In the moment, it feels like home.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>III</span>
</p><p>
  <span>Insomnia grows taller and brighter than it ever was, fed by the flood of refugees from the lands still plagued by the Night. Desperate people will do anything for daylight, and she never wants for workers. Under the disc of clear sky, the city curls around its Crystal like a dragon on its horde, its Wall raised high and cannons pointed outward. They say she rivals Solheim in her brilliance and corruption.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>One by one, the Hexatheon rescind their covenants. Each time, the King goes to face them, trading barbed words in incomprehensible tongues. Each time, a god is laid low. Perhaps the Astrals should not have given their chosen so much practice at killing them.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>The god-eating king perches on high, in the paradise he makes for those who earn his favor. Anything in the world can be gained here, for a price. But the price is ever steep, and The Dawnbringer soon earns an alternate epithet— </span>
  <em>
    <span>The Draconian.</span>
  </em>
</p><p>
  <span>Ignis could be happy here. He remains one of Noct’s inner circle, his most trusted advisor, even if he knows better than to give advice these days. Yet he is there, in the palace and the chambers and ever beside the throne. His king is radiant and mighty, and he wants for nothing. He doesn’t even have to shut his eyes to avoid the sight of those suffering.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>IV</span>
</p><p>
  <span>In Insomnia the sky is blue and the Light is blinding.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>By Ignis’s hand must it end.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>If it is to end.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>Unless it never ends.</span>
</p>
  </div></div>
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